Design

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

1. What is your name, organization and job title (you don't have to give your name/organization if you don't want to- it can be anonymous)Phil Wright, Blackpool Council Lancashire the CLC, Secondary teacher and consultant teacher.

2. What is the first thing you do when you get in the office?This ones tricky to say the least as no one day i really like the next, depending on the weather and if I'm feeling the twangs of environmentalism I may cycle the 2.3 miles to the office. However if its windy, rainy, cold, freezing, a slight nip in the air or a little to dark OR anything other than great sun shine then I'll drive. Once there I normally check the dairy, realise that really i should have planned better as I'm no doubt already running late as I've been on twitter or ebay or some other sight that I've taken just a little bit more interest in than i should have. I normally get the items i need for the days teaching preped, thanks the good Lord that I no longer work in a comprehensive school and more and that unless the earth blows up I will get out of the building unscathed today! Once sorted its time to turn to that great institution associated world wide with the Brit's a cup of tea! I trying to cut back on the coffee, I'm pretty sure like all teachers - or at least the vast majority that I'm a coffee addict! While I don't need it get in my way of it in a morning and normally I'll take a swipe at ripping your head clean off your shoulders, normally with my eyes still half closed, so not that bad really lol!

3. How do you spend your lunch break?As the media and various other organizations keep lambasting us with what it is to be healthy, sexy or even desirable I spend lunch chaowing down a most delicious and filling ......... salad ! Secretly dreaming of the cheese burger or toastie that I really want but aware of the amount of calories that it continues and that if I'm not careful I will become the size of a house ... ok that could be sometime off however after eating my salad in 10mins i decide that really a kitkat would be a great idea! this normally totally undermines the salad effort.Lunch is normally spend in the company of the people at work who can tolerate my, shall I say individual sense of humour! these are the folks that are less likely to be offended by quips and jibs, in this day and age you have ot be careful who you crack a joke to, for fear that you'll end up in front of an industrial tribuneral! I'm lucky there are a couple of folks in the building who share the same type of twisted humor as me, it 's nothing that bad just the one dig. However thats lunch, generally conducted in half and hour and with a laugh attached!

4. Which part of your work do you enjoy most?It a total cliché that teachers do it for the kids and talking to anyone I know they will happily tell you that I'd much rather have child lightly roasted for 3 hours at 260 degrees C than really go near one. However this isn't entirely true - ok not true at all. I work with some of this countries most deprived children, some on a level with kids in London! They can be little gits! Its true parents would liek to hear that but hey hoo! However if you put together a really good lesson that really captures their imagination and gives them opportunities that they know that they will rarely get, they work extremely hard and deliver products that are far beyond what you would expect form them and rarely ever leave with out saying 'thanks'.

5. Please finish this sentence: If someone wanted my job, they would have to…..find me a winning lottery ticket, with a value of around 50 - 90 million pound (possibly euro depending on the values lol).

6. What advice or tips do you have for other nonprofit professionals in your position?I used to train student teachers and often I get the student the 1st day, and the opening lines would be exchanged followed by .. so what advice would you give me about teaching or teaching here. Well thats a mine field in its self! You could start with the - well check your fly! If its down your going to be reminded of it for the next 100 years! However practical that advise not really what their after. Advice is the learning taken form your experiences, I've done loads of stupid things! So surly the advice should be do the opposite of me and you'll be a head teacher at the age of 25!What I told them was this' kids don't like BS, don't do it as they see though it, do get them to do anything you wouldn't and don't do anything in front of them that they are not allowed to. I always thought that this last one was really important, I've always got memories from school that in winter months you come in freezing and on the teachers desk was a steaming hot cuppa! They'd sip it all lesson while your teeth chattered and god forbid that you were allowed a drink. The same could be said about summer but with a cool drink. I always infuriated me teachers chewing gum in class or using a mobile phone while in a class ... you'd rollok the hell out of a kid for doing it, yet cos your a teacher its fine ... good example.I normally left the advice there, I always believed that they would develop into a good teacher on their own making their own advice as they went along!